Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Last spring break (09) I went to Ain Leuh, Morocco to spend a week working with a non-profit called The Village of Hope (http://www.voh-ainleuh.org/), along with 20 students from the Navigators Christian fellowship at NYU. Please see my blog entry on my time in Morocco here: How He Loves Us. The mission of the Village of Hope is "to establish a home for orphaned and unwanted children up to the age of 18 years. The facility will become a permanent home for the children. We will seek to provide these children with food, clothing, shelter, and personal care by adult foster parents." These foster parents, ten couples who come from all over the world, commit to spending 18 years at this small village in the Atlas Mountains, raising these 33 children as their own. As of today, they have been kicked out of the village and the country by the Moroccan government, leaving these children parentless, indefinitely.

On Monday, March 8th, Moroccan authorities raided Village of Hope (VOH), a children’s home in the Middle Atlas mountains of Morocco, originally founded by two Americans in 1957 as a home for orphaned children. The authorities arrived during the school day, entered the classrooms and told the adopted children their parents are being told to leave the country and will be leaving the children behind.

In the ensuing chaos, officials told the parents at VOH that they are being expelled from the country because they have been talking to their children about Christianity.

In 2002, the Village of Hope registered with the Moroccan government as an official Christian organization and received permission to talk about Christianity to the children in their care. Under the Moroccan government, it is illegal for anyone to talk about their Christian faith without first being asked. In the case of these parents, they had gotten permission to do so from the government.

As the secret police raided VOH, children cried out hysterically for their parents who were being forced to board a bus to the airport 30 minutes after receiving this news. The authorities are not allowing the parents to take any of the children with them which leaves behind 33 children who were in their care.

The staff at Village of Hope had moved there to dedicate their lives to adopting unwanted and orphaned children. In Morocco, it is only legal for Muslims to adopt children so the parents were acting as “foster parents” but in actuality the children considered them to be their parents.

The staff were told this directive came from the new Minister of Justice for Morocco, Mohammed Naciri.

These children's parents have been taken away from them by the Moroccan government. Please, please do your part to spread the word about this injustice. Feel free to link to my blog, copy my post or the press release, and get the word out HOWEVER you can. We cannot let these precious children become orphans, again.

Please email me day or night for more information on how you can get involved or if you want to be signed up on an email update list. Thank you: elizshelby@gmail.com

Please take a moment to (e)mail your congressmen, the Moroccan ambassador to the US, government officials in Morocco, and/or Secretary of State Clinton to express your concern for this injustice. View the contact information and sample letters below. If you wish to edit the letters in order to express your own experiences in Morocco, for example, please remember to refer to the expelled foreigners as "foster parents" - not "teachers," "caretakers," or "missionaries" - in order to stress the familial bond that has grown between them and the children, in some cases for over 10 years.

The Moroccan Ambassador to the United StatesHis Excellency Aziz MekouarAmbassador of Morocco1601 21st St NWWashington, DC 20009Phone: 202.462.7979(In your letter to the US Ambassador, it should say "Dear Mr. Ambassador,". The envelope should then have the address with His Excellency Aziz Mekouar.)

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has a longstanding relationship with Morocco, especially in the area of women’s rights.Department of State phone number is 202-647-4000.Ask to speak to Secretary Clinton’s Office regarding the expulsion of workers at the Village of Hope in Ain Leugh, Morocco. You will most likely have to leave a voice mail.

I write with deep concern and a heavy heart regarding the expulsion from Morocco of the foreign staff workers of the Village of Hope in Ain Leuh. When I have come to Morocco, I have travelled and marveled at the natural beauty of the mountains, the charm of your cities and, mostly, enjoyed the warm hospitality of your people. That is why I am so shocked and saddened by the action of your government.

I do not believe that the accusations against the staff workers are true. They care for orphaned and abandoned children. They have sacrificed personal comfort to provide a loving home for these beautiful young ones. I have visited the Village of Hope on several occasions and seen first-hand the tireless work of these wonderful staff. They have put the needs of the children above their own needs. I am amazed and I wonder to myself, “What would motivate such love, sacrifice and devotion?”

Now the children of the Village of Hope are being torn from the only home they have ever known. I humbly ask that the Kingdom of Morocco reconsider and reinstate to them the privilege of living in Morocco and caring for the children of the Village of Hope.

Respectfully,

_______________________________________________Sample letter to Senator Casey (go to http://www.casey.senate.gov/contact/ and fill out the form):

It is with the deepest concern that I write to you regarding the expulsion from Morocco of the foreign staff workers of the Village of Hope in Ain Leuh. I have heard so much about Morocco's beauty, its wonderful people, and the progress being made by their king in recent years. That is why I am so shocked and saddened by the action of the Moroccan government.

I have good reason to believe that the accusations against the staff workers at the Village of Hope are false. These people care for orphaned and abandoned children. They have sacrificed personal comfort to provide a loving home. I have heard many stories of the tireless work of these wonderful staff persons. They have always put the needs of the children above their own needs. I am amazed, and I wonder to myself, “What would motivate such love, sacrifice and devotion?” I am equally overcome with grief that the children are being taken away from their kind and devoted foster parents.

Now the children of the Village of Hope are being torn from the only home they have ever known, and the only people who have taken them in. I have written to the Moroccan ambassador, humbly asking that the Kingdom of Morocco reconsider and reinstate to the staff the privilege of living in Morocco and caring for the children of the Village of Hope.

I now ask you, as my senator, to use your influence in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, to act on behalf of these orphaned children and pressure the Moroccan government to reinstate the staff persons of the Village of Hope.